Peter Quill: Catching up on Today
by damn-right-avenge-it
Summary: It's summer. A teenage is out camping at night. When her friends go off to get some snacks, a unexpected stranger crosses paths with this girl; Peter Quill. It's his first time back on Earth in 26 years, and he has a lot of catching up to do on the culture of today. Who better to help him do so?
1. Chapter 1: Meeting Quill

The thing I love so much about summer is not only that it stays warm out pretty much 24/7, and the fact that even though it's super late outside and its still not as dark as it would be at 4:30pm in December, is that its so peaceful and quiet. And I just felt so safe, even though we were all out at the park at this time.

I look over, and I see that Rachel has fallen asleep, and Kaitlyns head is on her foot, using it as a pillow. unbelievable. I pull out my iPod to check the time; 2:07am. We thought it would be a good idea to sneak out after 1am to see if we could get a good look at this meteor shower or something like that. It didn't work out that well, and we ended up just watching a helicopter or a plane fly around. Couldn't really tell what it was from so far down. I decide that it would be best to wake Rachel and Kaitlyn up and go send them to get us something to eat, because I'm fucking starving. As soon as I shake Rachels shoulder, she slaps my hand away.

"Dude, can't you see I'm trying to sleep?" She moves away from me.

"Rachel come on, its 2:09am. You fell asleep in a fucking field. What am I supposed to do, just leave you and Kaitlyn out here to die?"

"If I can sleep, I don't think it will be that bad."

I scoff at here. "Whatever. Can you and Kaitlyn go to 711 or something and get us something to eat. I'm starving, I havent ate since breakfast."

Kaitlyn stirs at the sound of her name. "What do you want us to do?"

I ignore Rachel for a second, who is now starting to get up and look for money. "Can you guys go and grab something to eat. I'm gonna stay here and hold down the fort though."

Rachel looks at me. "The fort? You mean the blanket we are using to camp out on?"

"Uh yeah. I slaved setting this up for us, you hear me. And since I brought this wonderful blanket for us to sit on instead of the wet grass, you guys go get us pizza or something I don't even care."

"Fine, I got $15. Kaitlyn, you got anything?"

Kaitlyn looks into her bag. "Yeah I got 5 bucks. I'll get drinks and you can buy something else. Try going through one of the drive thrus and see what you can get us."

"Okay, sweet."

They begin to get up and stretch a little, after having a midnight nap, I guess you could call it. As they begin to walk off, I remember something.

"Kaitlyn, get orange pop or something, something we all like."

"Got it."

As soon as they are far enough away that I can't hear their conversation, I get my iPod out. Being alone is okay, and so is the quiet, but when it's dead silent, I can't handle it. I flip my playlist on shuffle, and Ain't no Mountain High Enough comes on. One of my favorites. I tap my fingers along to the beat as I observe my surroundings a little bit better. Our little campground is set up on the edge of one of the nicest parks in our city. The blanket is underneath some trees, in an opening with water behind us. I'm laying on my back, singing along with my iPod.

"_Listeenn baby, ain't no mountain high, ain't no valley low, ain't no river wiiddee enough baby. If you need me call me, no matter where you are, no matter how far. Don't wor- _what the fuck?"

I didn't even see him come up. Or hear him for that matter.

Looking up at this figure, I don't know what to think. Hes got some sort of metal mechanical mask on. The eyes are glowing red. He's wearing this jacket that looks like he wanted to wear a leather one, but couldn't afford it. As I'm looking up and down at this guy, he speaks.

"That song. I know it!" Now I am really confused.

As the music nears the chorus, he begins to sing along with the tune.

"_Cause baby there ain't no mountain high enough, ain't no valley low enough-_ why aren't you singing anymore? _ain't no river wide enough, to keep me from getting to you babe" _

"What the hell?" I'm looking in awe at this man. I'm so confused. This random guy wearing some type of alien mask it seems comes up to me in the middle of the night, and doesn't try to kill me, but _sings along with the music i'm listening to._

"Who are you?" I ask this guy.

After I ask, he stops singing and dancing (I must have missed the fact that he was dancing as well. Too lost in thought or too confused?)

He looks at me, and puts his hand up to his ear. Once he presses a button or something on this bluetooth like thing he has on, his mask begins to reduce. It disappears in a pixellated way. Hes got kind of curly hair thats pushed up at the front a little bit. Usually, a guy with a moustache would creep me out at 2:15am, but the fact that he was singing and dancing to one of my favorite songs has made me a little less fearful of this human.

"My name is Peter Quill. Some people call me Star-Lord. I used to live on this planet before I was taken away from it in '86. My ship crashed here. Not the worst place to crash on, since I've been missing this place for 26 years, but it's never good to crash, y'know? But since I am the only one who would kind of blend in on this planet, my friends are a talking raccoon, a tree, a giant blue maniac, and a green assassin, I decided to leave them with the ship. Think its for the best."

I cannot believe what is happening to me right now. I have just become the acquaintance of an outer space alien. Kind of. He was from here originally but hasn't been here for over half his life so I'm gonna go ahead and count him as an alien.

"OKay, uh yeah. Good idea for leaving those other guys on your ship, that wouldnt fly here. Police would be all over you and then the FBI and the government would be too. You don't want that to happen to you."

"Well sounds like that aspect of Terra hasn't changed. Hey, you look like a pretty hip kid, what else has changed here? Oh, how good is the music now? I bet its great. And what about the movies? There are so many things I have to catch up on."

"Okay first of all, don't get your hopes up too high for the music now. The pop of today is terrible. Actually, I listen to alot of the stuff you probably listened to. But if you want, I could come back with you to your ship and show you the good stuff, and also some movies, TV shows, and whats been happening around here? I can also try and help you get stuff you need for your ship."

While I talked, Peter looked pretty disappointed when I told him not to get his hopes high for the music. But when I said I would catch him up on everything, his face lit up.

"You know, that would be a great idea. But under one condition, I'll let you come with me."

"Yeah, what?"

"You can't tell anyone about me being here. Or my friends, once you meet them. No body. Not even your family or best friends. Got it?"

"I do that already, you have nothing to worry about."

He smiles at me. "Well then awesome, you're on board."


	2. Chapter 2: Walking to the Ship

Peter walks just a little bit ahead of me. He seems like he's in a rush to get back to the ship, or maybe he's excited to hear about what's going on around here. Probably that. He turns around on his heel to face me, and he begins to walk backwards, crossing his arms over his chest.

"So, I don't even know you're name yet."

"Huh, oh, it's Marina."

"Well, Marina, it's been 26 years since I've been on this planet, and I'm eager to hear some stuff thats been happening. I can't wait until we get back to ship! Spill it, what's happening?" Peter looks so excited, and I can't help but smile myself. He's acting like a kid at his first time at Disneyland or something.

I keep smiling and look up at him, his face is glowing. "Well, do you want any good news or bad news? Because we have a lot of bad news happening these days. And in the past too after you left."

"Just tell me the biggest events that have happened. Most interesting, don't bore me to death."

I try to think about some big events that happen in the past 26 years. I figure I'll get all of the sad occurrences out of the way.

"You know the Twin Towers in New York?"

He scoffs. "How could I not?"

"Yeah, some terrorists tried to knock them over in 1993 by putting a bomb in the lower parking lots."

"Goddamn, good thing they didn't though. That would have been horrible."

I kind of regret starting with the sad news, because again, just like a kid, he has such high hopes for this planet, and all we have been doing is shitting on each other.

"Yeah, but not compared to what they did in 2001." Peter looks at me, still walking backwards. He seems desperate to know more.

I kind of stutter these next words out. "Uh, I think it was the same group of terrorists but different guys. But they hijacked planes and flew them into both of the towers. And they both collapsed. Over 2000 people died that day."

Peter's face softens. "Goddamn." He doesn't really have any words for this. I look past him to avoid his gaze, to realize where we are. We are long past the field where I was camping, and I totally forgot about Rachel and Kaitlyn.

"Oh shit!" I say, "I forgot to call my friends. They are probably losing their shit over where I am right now." I pull out my phone as quick as possible and dial Rachel's number. She answers on the 2nd ring.

"Dude, Marina, where the fuck are you? We are back here and-" I cut her off before she can go on

"Listen to me. I am fine okay. Don't call the police or anything, and just tell my parents that I went away for a little while. I'll be back, maybe, I don't really know at this point. Gotta go." And thats it.

Peter looks over at me. "Thanks for not saying anything about me. I don't really wanna draw any attention to me here. I got so many guys after me, probably. I know one of them, Yondu Udonta, would fly right to this planet and kill me if he knew I was here. I- uh, kind of tricked him the last time I saw him"

I laugh. "Oh boy. You're probably gonna be in some deep shit with him. He sounds hardcore, by his name."

"Haha, yeah he is. He 'picked me up' from here when I was a kid. So AKA he was the one who abducted me from here. He tells me so much that his crew wanted to eat me, and that he starved them so I could stay alive. He thinks I should be grateful for it?"

"What the fuck, hahaha. Yeah, he DOES sound really hard core."

After this, we keep walking in silence for a little bit. When we are, it all kind of hits me. I am putting my trust into a complete stranger, who claims to be an alien from another galaxy, but he was born here and he just lived away for his whole life, basically. And now, he's taking me back to his ship where his companions are, and none of them are human. I'm starting to think I've made a really bad idea. But I can't really back out now, plus I'm pretty sure that I saw guns on his belt.

"So, are we gonna keep walking in silence, or do you think you could play some music on that thing of yours that you were using before." His voice sounds pretty fed up, so I decide to play something he probably knows, but hasn't heard in over 26 years.

I start to unlock my iPod, and as I do, I explain things to him. "Okay, the thing I have is called an iPod. It stores up so much music, like my friend has over 800 songs on hers. I have about 200. We can probably go out one day and get you one, but we are gonna have to get some money some how, because I don't have any. Maybe you can steal some? Or your companions can. I dunno. Okay this song you probably already know it but since you have been listening to the same mixtape for over 20 years, you're probably gonna wanna hear it." Peter's smile is so wide it could probably bring light to someone who has none.

When the first few chords of "The Boys are Back in Town" start to play, Peter's face is a little confused at first, like he doesn't know this song, but once he starts to sing, he knows the song instantly.

_Guess who just got back today? Them wild eyed boys that have been away._

"Boys are Back in Town, by Thin Lizzy! This is a fucking awesome song, and you know it, goddamn. Your music taste is fuckin' awesome already."

_They were askin' if you were around, how you was where you could be found. I told them you were livin' downtown, driving all the old men crazy._

After a few of the lines, and me giggling a little bit, Pete clues in. "Oh, you're playing this for me because I just got back here, huh?"

"I thought you wouldn't get it, haha."

"Okay, gimmie that." He swipes my iPod out of my hand, and seems generally confused by it. "How does this thing even work?"

"Just use your finger. And tap the things that you want to. Or just slide your finger down to scroll." He figures it out pretty quickly. He starts scrolling through my music, nodding his head at a lot of it, and cringing at some of it.

"You know Hooked on a Feeling?" Peter looks excited that I know one of his songs, I'm assuming its one of his, since he hasn't listened to much for a long time.

I nod. "Yeah, my friend Kaitlyn showed it to me. I didn't like it at first, but after I heard it a few times i was in love with it."

"Nice." He keeps scrolling.

Suddenly I stop in my tracks. Peter briefly looks up from the screen, and around a little bit, then smiles.

"Okay, yeah. Don't get freaked out."

The thing that is before me is nothing like I've ever seen in real life before, only in movies. So Peter wasn't lying about his ship. This giant orange and blue spacecraft is amazing. And I get to go on it.

"It's called the Milano. Come on, my buddies are gonna want to meet you."


	3. Chapter 3: Meeting Rocket and Gamora

_*Sorry if this one took long to post, but I am on winter break now so I can probably update the story every few days or so. Enjoy this one though, and please leave me some reviews, or tell me anything you would like to see happen in the story, I am always open to suggestions and usually love them!*_

I stagger behind Peter a little bit when we board his ship, I'm a little nervous. Actually, I'm alot nervous. What if he was lying? Is he gonna torture me here? I debate running back out to find Kaitlyn and Rachel and tell them everything that is happening and call the police and get this man arrested. But in a way, a feel kind of safe with this man. I don't really know why, it's kinda the vibe he gives off. Once we are both fully on the ship, he shuts the ramp that we walked up to get in here.

"Don't want anyone to follow us." Peter says.

"Probably for the best." I agree with him.

Peter shows me a few things around his ship, his cassette player, some alien weapons, even of one his friends inventions, which can apparently blow up a huge ship.

"Yeah, when I was in this place called Knowhere, my buddy Rocket, and my really attractive friend Gamora and me got in these pods to get back to my ship, because we had this thing called an Infinity Stone which has the potential to wipe out a whole planet which is scary as fuck. So we get in these pods and Gamora has the stone with her and all these other aliens who want the stone so they can give it to their crazy ass leader, this dude named Ronan, who I later killed with the Infinity Stones power... I'm getting off topic," Peter tells me all of this fast and excitedly, but he has some sound of emotion in his voice.

"So Gamora is in this pod right, and she can't make it to my ship so she goes out into the atmosphere, and since these shitty pods aren't built to go outside of Knowhere, she got blown to bits. So I got myself captured to save her ass by that guy Yondu I mentioned. So Yondu takes me into his ship and I'm carrying Gamora, so she comes along too. After Yondu tries to kill me and I chill him out, he lets me go and we have to figure out a plan on how to get the Stone back from Ronan, because when Gamora got blown up they took the stone back right. So right when Yondu is done trying to kill me, we feel our ship being shot at. So we go up to the cockpit and see my good old friend Rocket in my ship, shooting at us. He demands Yondu to turn us back over to him, or else he was gonna blow up our ship with that big ass weapon you're looking at. But he only gives Yondu 5 fucking seconds to turn us over!" Peter is hysterical. I start laughing too, partially because of his story, but mostly because Pete is laughing so hard.

"I already told you dumbass, we didn't have time to work out the bloody flaws in our plan!"

When I look down, I am taken aback. What is in front of me is hard to explain. It's a raccoon standing on its hind legs, and it just _talked._

"What the f-" I manage to choke out before Pete and the racoon start laughing.

"Marina, that's Rocket, the one who tried to fucking blow me up." Peter is still laughing from his story, and now hes laughing harder. I'm just standing there looking confused, while the two of them laugh their heads off.

"For god-sakes Quill, I would never get that kind of reaction anywhere else in the galaxy. Why did we have to come to this planet again?" Rocket sneers.

"This is my home planet. Plus Drax wanted to come visit here too. Gamora agreed to it too, and Groot says he didn't want to, but thats what you said, so I'm not fully sure i believe you."

Rocket turns to me. "Whatever. Hey, Human, where can I buy some spare parts or metal or explosives here? I bet the people on this planet are so dumb I could rob them right in front of them, as long as I get the same reaction you gave me."

"Uh, first of all, my name is Marina, you can call me that. And second, do I look like I know where we sell our metal or explosives, let alone spare parts? I'm 15! You should probably read up on how life works here."

It seems that Rocket didn't like my comment so much. "Okay, listen up kiddo. You know who is in charge here? Me."

Peter coughs. "Actually-"

"Shut up Quill. I didn't ask to get demeaned by you too. Anyways, _Marina,_" Rocket makes sure to say my name super sarcastically. "I don't need to learn anything about this dumb planet. I learn what I want to learn. And if you don't know where the things I need are, then looks like I'm gonna have to go out into this wasteland and find them myself."

Peter shakes his head. "Yeah, no. You're not going outside of this ship, Ranger Rick. You saw the reaction you got from Marina, I bet people are gonna call the cops on you."

I speak up. "Actually, the government is probably gonna get involved with not only Rocket, but all of your crew."

"Shut up, kid." Rocket spits at me.

I chuckle to myself. Theres something about Rocket that makes him seem funny to me.

"So me and the kid are probably going to go out one day and get the stuff we need for the ship." I can tell Peter is the leader of this gang, even though Rocket seems like he wants to be.

"Yeah, but where are you gonna get me my explosives?"

"In your dreams, rodent." A green girl emerges from the top half of the ship. She is strikingly beautiful, her green skin is so cool, and for a minute I wish I could be green. Her hair is also so pretty. Black, with purplish pink dyed tips. I stare at her in awe.

"Whos this?" She asks Peter, pointing at me.

"Uh, Marina. Marina, this is Gamora, I mentioned her."

I reach out my hand, and she looks a little confused.

Peter laughs. "A gesture of friendliness."

Gamora grabs my hand, and I shake, she just kinda holds my hand. I begin to snicker.

"Oh, I understand now." She smiles to herself.

"Wheres Drax?" Peter asks Gamora.

"Sleeping. Thank god. He was going crazy about coming here."

"Okay. Marina, you are gonna have to meet him later. Warning; he is very big and blue."

"And 100% literate," Rocket joins in. "Don't use any metaphors or 'Earth crap' with him. He might take it the wrong way."

"Good to know."

Once we've all met, we go to a different part of the ship and sit down at a table.

"So," Peter starts. "You promised you would share some music of today with me?"


	4. Chapter 4: Peter meets Indie music

_[Jesus, sorry I havent posted in a while guys. I'm going to try and post a new chapter at least weekly. It just takes me a while to think of stuff to add in. I've got some good stuff coming for you guys though. Happy new year!]_

I have to wipe a small layer of dust that has formed on the old, 1999 laptop that me and Pete were able to acquire from the trash bin behind a computer store. I'm hoping that it works still. Once I open it up and press the on button, with Peter, Gamora, and Rocket all surrounding behind me, it makes some sort of funny noise and the screen is all these weird colours. Busted. We should have known, since it was literally in the fucking trash bin.

"You can probably fix this right?" I close the laptop and hold it out to Rocket, who shrugs.

"Yeah, I bet I could. But I'm going to need something from you first." He chuckles a little bit.

I roll my eyes. "Yeah okay, like what?"

Suddenly Peter steps in. "Rocket I swear to god, just fix it and leave the poor kid alone."

"Fine, fine. I'll go do that right now then. Also better go check on Groot." Rocket takes the laptop out of my hands and walks to a different part of the ship. I can tell Peter is disappointed that the computer was broken. He really seems like he wants to listen to new stuff. So I crack.

"Pete, I still have my iPod. I can show you some stuff I have on here?" His face lights up instantly when I say this, and I notice Gamora lighting up at Peter's sudden happiness.

I pull out my iPod, and type in my password. I am barely at music when Pete is already telling me to hurry up with it. Before I even have time to scroll past the A song section, Pete grabs the iPod out of my hand and studies it. I laugh. "You use your finger to scroll. No gloves."

Peter kind of laughs at this, and gently places his finger on the screen and drags it down. Since hes new to it, he doesn't know that you can just flick your finger lightly and it will go down for you. So he holds his finger on the screen and pulls it down to see what songs I have. I think it's pretty funny at how he is holding my device and how hes scrolling it. He holds the iPod out in front of his face and pulls his finger down again and again.

"Wow, I definitely missed out on this," Pete is so amazed with this new technology, which surprises me, considering he has been across the galaxy, and who knows what types of gadgets they have out there.  
>I go to stand behind Pete, and look over his shoulder from where he is now sitting. He has gotten to the B section so far, and smiles at the Michael Jackson song I have; Beat It.<p>

"Oh my god, I remember this song. My mom and I would dance along to it if it ever came on on the radio in our house we used to have. Those were the good days." He seems to have a brief flashback or a feeling of nostalgia. Pete continues to scroll after it passes.

"Didn't you want to hear the pop music of today, and not remember old songs?" I ask curiously.

"Nah, I'd rather just review what songs you have and then go back and see which ones I have any interest in listening to."

"Alright then. Or you could just play some of the songs and scroll at the same time." I suggest to him. Peter considers this for a minute, kind of looks lost in thought, and then excited.

"You can do that? Wow, so which are some good songs you suggest I should listen to?"

I know one. It's my favorite song of all time. It's an indie song; called Stubborn Love by The Lumineers. Not too sure that Peter will like it, but since its my favorite song, I don't really care. I take the iPod out of Pete's hands, which I get a protesting 'Hey!' in return, but I show him how to scroll faster, and go all the way down to the S section. I find my song, hit it, and it starts to play. I then give the iPod back to Peter, and slide all the way back up to the B section in one swipe.

"What the-" Peter seems so fascinated by all this. The first few notes of the guitar in my song are played, and Peter stops scrolling. He just kind of takes it in. His expression is totally blank, so I can't really tell what he thinks of it. When the lyrics start up, he seems to think of it differently, and I'm starting to think that he likes it.

_She'll lie and steal and cheat / and beg you from her knees / makes you think she means it, this time.  
><em>_She'll tear a hole in you / the one you can't repair / but I still love her I don't really care._

Peter's face goes blank again, and I still can't tell if he likes it or not. I'm getting frustrated. When I look up, I notice Gamora, who is smiling and nodding her head.

"I like this, it's really nice." She smiles at me, and I beam back, glad that at least one person likes it, that I can tell.

_It's better to feel pain, than nothing at all / the opposite of loves indifference_

I've listened to this song so many times I know it off by heart, and I sing along with it. Gamora taps her foot along, and finally, Peter moves.

"This is so weird, I've never really heard anything like it. I'm so used to all that rock stuff, but this is like..." He can't find the words for it.

"So you like it?" I ask him.

"Hard to say, I'll probably need to listen to it a bunch more times before I can really know."

"I feel that way about so many songs, I can show you another one once this one is done." I offer. Peter turns around on his chair and smiles politely.

"I would love that."

_So keep your head up, keep your love / Keep your head up, my love.  
>Keep your head up, my love  So keep your head up, keep your love.  
>And I don't blame you dear, for running like you did, all these years.  I would do the same you best believe  
>Oh and the highway signs say we're closed  but I dont read those things anymore / I never trusted my own eyes_

_"_I love this song so fucking much." I announce to Peter and Gamora, who both chuckle in response.

"I agree with you, Marina. It's beautiful," Gamora looks to Peter, "the melody is pleasant."

Peter laughs a little. "Are you gonna kiss me yet, sweetheart?" He asks Gamora a little too innocently, and she rolls her eyes in response. Seconds later, we hear Rocket yell from the other room.

"Can you two lovebirds PLEASE quit flirting with each other? Seriously, you're making me feel sick over here." We all laugh together.  
>The song finishes it's last few chords with the cello thats in it, and Gamora claps. I smile. Peter looks lost in thought.<p>

"What was the other one you were gonna show me?"

"Oh right, let me find it." I go to take the iPod from Pete but he moves away.

"No, let me find it. I love this little gadget thing. What's it called?"

I sign and decide to give in. "Riptide, by Vance Joy. It takes a while to warm up to, or at least it did for me."

Peter flicks down on the screen like I did, but he over did it way too much and he's now at the bottom of my songs. "Wow, you can store over 200 songs on this?" He looks amazed.

"Thats my new iPod even. My old one got cracked to shit and it broke. I had way more than 200 on that one. It still works but barely."

"Rocket can probably fix it for you, and we can get your other songs too."

I consider this for a moment, and think to myself why I got the new iPod in the first place. I could barely unlock my old one. "Sure, maybe. But it's a big challenge. it's got water damage too, I don't even know how it still works. I dropped it in the toilet once and my hot tub. Incredible."

Peter nods, and finds Riptide and begins to play it.

_I was scared of dentists and the dark / I was scared of pretty girls and starting conversations _


End file.
